Brisbane Airport Kinetic Parking Garage Façade by Ned Kahn and UAP

September 08, 2012Text Parvinder Marwaha Photos courtesy of the architect

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BRISBANE – Artist Ned Kahn – branded for his environmentally-driven installations – has designed an aluminium façade which fluctuates with the movement of wind while masking the side of a car park in Brisbane, Australia.

The new façade is swathed with 117,000 suspended aluminum panels. Bolted to a steel substructure, the panels hang eight storeys and cover an area of 5000-sq-m. Hinged at one side only, the individual panels are encouraged to shift in accordance with the air current to reveal complex patterns of wind turbulence.

Kahn’s work seeks to test and influence how installations can react with the natural environment, offering the observer an ever-changing piece of art.

‘The entire wall of the building appears to move in the wind and creates the impression of waves in a field of metallic grass,’ Kahn says. A rippling silver skin allows for natural shade and ventilation. Inside, intricate patterns of light and shadows are projected onto the walls and floors and cars, as sunlight breaches the façade.